How to cover Trayvon Martin killing: Report on ‘racial tension’ and look beyond the hoodie

There are a lot of questions in the Trayvon Martin case that may take journalists days and weeks to help answer. But there are steps they can take immediately to make their reporting clearer and less biased.

Much of the coverage has featured coded language that leaves readers with confusion rather than clarity and impressions rather than facts. News organizations, for instance, have reported that the Department of Justice said its community relations service will meet with officials, civil rights leaders and authorities in Sanford, Fla., this week to “calm racial tensions” nearly a month after the 17-year-old African American was shot.

But I haven’t seen much detail about what this tension entails. The phrase “racial tensions” does little to inform people unless we substantiate it with facts and evidence.

“It tells me that people who don’t share the same ethnic or racial background are at odds with each other, but really? All of them are?” Maynard said by phone. “There’s too much room for fill in the blank. I think as audience members, all of us are going to fill in the blank differently.”

Here’s what journalists could report on to better explain what they mean by “racial tensions”:

The racial composition of Sanford and the particular community where Martin lived. What do the demographics reveal about the community, if anything?

Whether there have been racially motivated crimes in the community, and whether black suspects have been unfairly treated. The Miami Herald reported that the Sanford Police Department “was accused of giving favorable treatment to relatives of officers involved in violent encounters with blacks.” It seems there’s more reporting to do.

Whether Martin’s shooter, George Zimmerman, targeted young black men when calling police. Several news organizations have reported that Zimmerman called police 46 times since January 2011. The Miami Herald reported that neighbors say he was fixated on crime and targeted young black men. I haven’t seen any stories, though, referring to police reports that substantiate this.

The way we describe Martin and Zimmerman. When reporters start using phrases such as “racial tensions,” the relevance of race becomes heightened, and so does the need for clarity. Are we talking about racial tensions between white police and black community members? Racial tensions between blacks and Hispanics? It’s unclear. Some have said that Zimmerman is white, some have said he’s Hispanic, some have said he’s both. This inconsistency adds to the confusion. When Zimmerman is described as a “neighborhood watch captain” does that confer a degree of authority or legitimacy that affects how people perceive the shooting?

News stories have published a close-up photo of Martin wearing a white hooded sweatshirt, the hood pulled up over his head. Monday evening, ABC News closed its story of him with that image. Fewer stories have pointed out that Zimmerman was also wearing a hoodie.

The fact that Martin was wearing a hoodie doesn’t reveal much about him.

“I think it’s more revealing that he had Skittles, if you’re going to talk about who he was,” Maynard said. “A hoodie tells me what the weather conditions were. Skittles tell me about a child.” The Skittles also set up a striking juxtaposition: Martin was “armed with a package of Skittles and an iced tea“; Zimmerman was armed with a gun.

This isn’t the first time news outlets have mentioned hooded sweatshirts when describing young black men. The style dates back to the decorative hoods that monks wore in the Medieval Times, but in recent years has been associated with gang members.

“It’s a major stereotype of gang members in particular, and it has escalated to the point where it has become a descriptor for young black and Hispanic criminals,” said Kenny Irby, senior faculty for visual journalism & diversity programs at Poynter, who also runs “The Write Field,” a Poynter community project with the Tampa Bay Rays aimed at helping young black men in St. Petersburg, Fla., express themselves through writing. “Like bling and grills, hoodies are used to distinguish young individuals who are involved in questionable activities.” Today in New York City, there’s a “Million Hoodies March” to honor Martin and show that “a black person in a hoodie isn’t automatically ‘suspicious.’”

Hooded sweatshirts often show up in hip-hop music videos, further perpetuating stereotypes, Irby said.

“It used to be baseball caps. These garments of clothing take on a meaning and persona in contemporary society that are, for the most part, glorified by videos and pop culture,” Irby told me. “I think they expand into identifying a particular group of people connected with a particular series of actions.”

“Not only does this present a distorted image of this particular population, it also serves to instill fear in the wider society,” he wrote.

Butler quoted Maynard, who said, “The problem is that just as the media and police descriptions imprint on our minds the notion that black male equals criminal, so too have they taught us that black male plus hoodie equals imminent danger.”

News sites have also mentioned Martin’s hoodie in stories about the phone call Martin made to his girlfriend shortly before he was shot. His girlfriend told ABC News: “He said this man was watching him, so he put his hoodie on.” The quote suggests that Martin thought he was in danger and was perhaps using the hoodie to help protect or hide himself.

In an NPR essay, the Center for Inspired Teaching‘s Cosby Hunt said the media coverage of Martin wearing a hooded sweatshirt reminds him of his own children and the conversations he and his wife will need to have with them. His 3-year-old son Ellington wears a Batman hoodie with ears as often as he can, and sometimes sleeps with it on. His older son Freeman also wears hooded sweatshirts.

“We did not plan to give them advice about hoodies, but now I see we’ll need to have that talk, too,” Hunt writes. “We will have [to] say, ‘You know how you used to wear your hooded Batman sweatshirt when you wanted to fight the bad guys as a kid? Well, now that you’re older, some people will be confused and think that you are the bad guys if they see your hoodie and your skin color. It’s silly and wrong that anyone would think that you are the bad guys, but we don’t want you to be hurt. We don’t want the real bad guys or even some guy playing superhero to hurt you.’ ”

When deciding whether to describe criminals as wearing a hooded sweatshirt, journalists should question how much this description will add to a story. Does it reveal something important about the suspect? Would you be as inclined to say the criminal was wearing a white T-shirt, a blue Polo shirt, a corduroy jacket? Would you be inclined to mention the hoodie if the suspect were Caucasian?

News outlets have been using a few different photos of Martin, including one of him wearing a red Hollister T-shirt, a football jersey and the white hoodie. Irby said that given the stigma around hoodies, it’s smart to have conversations about whether to feature the photo of Martin wearing one.

“There are a number of images that the family has made available, and I think we have to question why journalists continue to present that same image and not new information or new images that represent the individual in a more complete way,” Irby said. “We have to be willing to ask good questions. Are we perpetuating stereotypes, and are we pursuing a range of options? There are other options out there.”

Editor’s note: Some news organizations have been using the word “murder” to describe what happened to Martin, while others are using “death.” We chose to use “murder” initially and changed it to “killing” based on our reporting.

Get out your tinfoil hats, because the media is using coded messages that, thankfully, our wise author can interpret. Of course, this article doesn’t mention that the picture the media usually uses was taken when he was 13.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZT4YRFCJCKWB4TN7CUXYSNXNP4 Wacker

age 62 and wearing a hoodie? Fine but do you arrogantly swagger down the street with your pants down around your behind?

http://www.poynter.org Poynter

Thanks for reading the piece, Coral. It’s funny how quickly these types of stereotypes can slip our mind — until something like this happens. It’s good to remind ourselves of the implications of our words and descriptions.

~Mallary

michele

Regarding, “The style dates back to the decorative hoods that monks wore in the Medieval Times, but in recent years has been associated with gang members.” There may be better sources for the history of hoods – and monks’ hoods — than Wikipedia, such as fashion encyclopedias, fashion institutes, costumers, anachronistic recreation societies, the Catholic Encyclopedia. Monks were not alone, or even foremost, in wearing hoods in medieval times. Hoods, for protection from the elements, were common as separate garments or attached to short or long capes, worn by the upper and lower classes alike. Use for fashion developed among the wealthier classes. Nor were the hoods of the monks decorative; just as the hoods of the non-religious, the monks’ hoods gave warmth and protection from the elements, even inside their cells and chapels, which often had no heat. Even when now worn where not needed for warmth or protection from rain or snow, its spiritual and symbolic nature is not merely decoration. Asceticism is not given to mere decoration.

http://twitter.com/LavendarHill Coral Johnston

Thank you for a very thougtful article. I ran accross it when trying to understand the significance of Martin’s girlfriend stating that Trayvon had put his hood up when recognizing he was being followed. The criminal stereotype, gang association had slipped my mind. I had wondered if he were trying to hide his own skin color to escape the threat, since he may have had some sense of his vulnerability in a white neighborhood. I find it fascinating in an awful way that Zimmerman was hooded as well yet no mention was made of that until you pointed out that item.

Also, the 911 operators that Zimmerman called, on several occassions, asked if the suspects (not just Trayvon) were white, black or hispanic. Just how useful is this question? This way of identifying each other is so lame. Maybe a specific description of someones clothing or hair would go a lot further. It would slowly train us not to racially profile everyone.

I am 60 years old, female, wear lots of hoodies, pink ones, University of Kentucky hoodies, WVU hoodies. I didn’t know I was seting myself up to be either viewed as a criminal, a black youth or making any statement. I just thought they looked nice. But now I wear them for Trayvon.

http://twitter.com/BlaineStewart Blaine Stewart

Well, he IS a neighborhood watch captain. And was seemingly acting in that role at the time of the killing, so that IS important. Also, why NOT mention the hoodie? If it was a factor in this Zimmerman guy’s fear of an unarmed kid with skittles, why not show it/mention it. Just looking for your thoughts…

http://twitter.com/HotCornerBlues Gary

What about continually showing a photo of Martin as an 11 year old while using Zimmerman’s mug shot photo? That’s classic bias. And it’s quite clear that the Martin family attorneys are controlling the media coverage. Almost every story reads as a Martin family press release. Finally, it’s clear that the media is trying to gin up racial tensions.

http://twitter.com/TerriTerrier Terri the Terrier

My master has a hoodie! And guns! Oh no! That must mean he’s a young black thug, not the old white man he smells like to me.

Anonymous

> ” Would you be inclined to mention the hoodie if the suspect were Caucasian?”

Ask the Unabomber.

http://www.facebook.com/john.salmon John Salmon

Thank you, Mallary.

http://www.poynter.org Poynter

Thanks for your comment, John. That sentence makes it seem as though I was implying Martin was a criminal, which wasn’t my intention. I’ve changed “criminals” to “men.”

~Mallary

http://carfreepvd.wordpress.com/ carfreepvd

Geez, I never knew wearing a hoodie was so suspect. I wear one almost every day in the colder half of the year. Along with hip-hop culture and “gang members” – you know who else is known for wearing a hoodie? Mark Zuckerberg, AKA the youngest billionaire in America.

http://twitter.com/FlaFan FlaFan

“The Miami Herald reported that neighbors say he was fixated on crime and targeted young black men. I haven’t seen any stories, though, referring to police reports that substantiate this.”

The police reports themselves may be part of the problem……

http://www.facebook.com/john.salmon John Salmon

The article says, “This isn’t the first time news outlets have mentioned hooded sweatshirts when describing young black criminals.” I think one glance will tell you what’s wrong with THAT sentence.